Mumbai: In India, neither the president nor the prime minister can unilaterally unleash nuclear weapons. Instead, it is vested in a carefully designed political council that ensures no single individual can press the dreaded “red button”.
Defence experts and former officials confirm that the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA), created in 2003, has two tiers: the Political Council chaired by the Prime Minister and the Executive Council headed by the National Security Advisor.
Only the Political Council – which includes the PM, Home Minister, Defence Minister, External Affairs Minister and other key Cabinet members – can authorise a nuclear strike.
The President, as Supreme Commander of the armed forces, is kept informed but does not have operational veto or launch authority.
“The decision is collective and deliberate. Even the PM cannot act unilaterally,” says former NSA Shivshankar Menon. Orders then travel through the Strategic Forces Command (SFC), a tri-service body that maintains custody of warheads and delivery systems – from Agni missiles to submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
India follows a strict “No First Use” policy and keeps warheads detached from missiles in peacetime. Codes are split among multiple custodians; only when the Political Council meets and authenticates can the arsenal be mated and armed.
In a nation that conducted its last tests in 1998 and now possesses over 170 warheads, this layered system reflects both democratic caution and deadly seriousness – ensuring the bomb remains a weapon of last resort, never of impulse.